This study investigates whether homophobic labels and category-neutral terms are differently appraised as a function of levels of coming-out. After reporting their coming-out status, participants were exposed to either homophobic or category labels and reported their semantic associations, level of internalized homophobia, and body perceptions. Results show that labels were more positively evaluated as participants’ coming-out increased. High–coming-out individuals reported higher internalized homophobia and body concerns in the homophobic rather than category labels condition. Low–coming-out individuals displayed the reverse pattern

This cross-sectional research investigates the individual (i.e., sexual prejudice, contact with lesbian 5" and gay [LG] people, and perceived seriousness of homophobic epithets) and contextual (i.e., 6" homophobic bullying observed by school staff and perceived colleague reactions to homophobic 7" bullying) factors as predictors of school staff intervention against vs. legitimization of homophobic 8" bullying. Data were collected in secondary schools in the North of Italy via a paper-and-pencil 9" survey. Participants were school staff members (N = 273) from 24 Italian secondary schools. The 10" results have indicated that the higher the sexual prejudice and the lower the contact with LG 11" individuals, the higher the legitimization of homophobic bullying. Also, perceiving colleagues as 12" legitimizing or intervening in cases of homophobic bullying predicted similar reactions on the part 13" of school staff participants. The findings are discussed with respect to the current literature 14" regarding homophobic bullying, and applied interventions for school staff training programs to 15" tackle homophobic bullying at school are put forward.

By using a pseudoword paradigm, we tested whether derogatory labels (e.g., pejorative labels addressing group members) differed from category labels and general slur in their descriptive (i.e., pointing to group membership) and expressive functions (i.e., perceived offensiveness and social acceptability). Results indicated that derogatory labels were similar to category labels in their descriptive function, and had higher expressive function than slurs. Participants’ prejudice toward the groups that were targets of derogatory label reduced their perceived offensiveness than in turn increased their social acceptability.